India (Superthread)

[MarkOttawa]

Earlier:

Now India Wants to Build Foreign Single-Engine Fighter (Gripen? F-16?)
https://cgai3ds.wordpress.com/2016/10/11/mark-collins-now-india-wants-to-build-foreign-single-engine-fighter-gripen-f-16/

Now:

Boeing’s Super Hornet manufacture hits export hurdle [for any planes built in India--US restrictions]
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/logistics/boeing-super-hornet/article9446489.ece

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Indian Air Force has the spirit--official tweet:
https://twitter.com/IAF_MCC/status/812921086266503169

Indian Air Force
‏@IAF_MCC

#IndianAirForce wishes all A #MerryChristmas & A #HappyNewYear2017 @SpokespersonMoD

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Further to this post,
http://milnet.ca/forums/threads/39917/post-1469721.html#msg1469721

more on build-in-India single-seat fighter:

Parrikar: India to Kick Off Competition for New Foreign Single-Engine Fighters

India will invite global competitive bids to select a foreign single-engine fighter to be made in India, said Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar.

Addressing a news conference here, Parrikar said the final selection for a western partner to provide a single-engine fighter for the Indian Air Force will depend on transfer of technology terms and the pricing proposed by the original equipment manufacturer.

Parrikar disclosed another single fighter line will be done under the Strategic Partnership model that will be announced later this month.

"We will submit a new acceptance of necessity proposal for new single engine fighters to Ministry of Defense in the next four months, and will request to fast-pace this new program," a senior IAF official said. "IAF will put up a demand for 200 new single engine fighters to be made in India, which will easily cost around $45 million apiece without weaponry [emphasis added]."..

However a top MoD official said selection of an Indian private company to manufacture single engine fighters will only be approved by the cabinet by the end of 2017. Thereafter a global bid will be floated, with expectation that Lockheed Martin of US and Saab of Sweden will pitch the F-16 Block 70 and Gripen, respectively.

The global tender will be floated in the first quarter of 2018. At that time, a private company will be nominated as the strategic partners production agency and a two or more year process will kick off to evaluate technical and financial bids and conduct extensive trials, MoD official noted.

The final government-to-government deal will be inked in 2021.

Currently, there is proposal to buy additional Rafale fighters, Parrikar announced, after an $8.8 billion deal was signed with France in September for 36 of the fighters.

IAF wants to replace its 11 aging Russia MiG-21 and MiG-27 squadrons in the next five to seven years. The service faces a shortage of fleet strength as it has around 34 operational fighter squadrons – 11 short of the 45 required to fight China and Pakistan at a future date.
http://www.defensenews.com/articles/parrikar-india-to-kick-off-competition-for-new-foreign-single-engine-fighters

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Note 1976 Canadian angle near end of quote, then personal aspect:

Declassified: How India Tracked Pakistan’s Development of a Nuclear Device
Newly declassified documents reveal how New Delhi tracked Islamabad’s pursuit of a nuclear device.

Today, South Asia’s fragile nuclear peace risks insolvency, with both India and Pakistan armed with expansive nuclear arsenals. Moreover, given their mutual rivalry, the prospect of limited nuclear exchange continues to loom large in the region. India’s deterrent strategy accounts for a two-front nuclear exchange with both China and Pakistan. How Pakistan’s nuclear doctrine merges into its strategic identity remains an open question. When Kenneth Waltz wrote of the “spread” of nuclear weapons rather than their “proliferation” in 1981, Pakistan was yet to count itself among nuclear weapon states.

Making deterrence work amid nation-state rivalry counts on the ability of the respective intelligence communities of nuclear states to constantly attenuate uncertainty about their rival’s present as well as prospective nuclear arsenal and doctrine. Today, both India and Pakistan continue to deploy considerable intelligence resources to track the other’s nuclear arsenal.

India, for instance, has taken a keen interest in Pakistan’s pursuit of a nuclear device going back to the 1970s and even earlier. Based on newly declassified Indian documentation I was able to access, what follows is an account of what Indian external intelligence knew about Pakistan’s intentions between the 1970s leading up to the 1990s – the decade that would end with both countries coming out as the world’s sixth and seventh declared nuclear powers.

For Indian intelligence in the 1970s, the focus in Pakistan was about its reprocessing capacity and centrifuges. This shifted in the 1980s to focus on the capability to produce an explosive device, and, finally, in the 1990s, focused on the nascent Pakistani missile program routed through China, which was eventually outsourced by China to North Korea.

Soon after the 1998 tests by both countries, Indian intelligence was looking at supply chains for Pakistan’s Shaheen-II ballistic missile, almost four years ahead of its first test in 2004.There was already specific knowledge available with India on Shaheen-I, including on the hardware that was involved in steering the missile. Additionally, New Delhi was not entirely convinced that Pakistan would not use choose to use non-nuclear chemical warheads for its missiles

The trail of documents begins with a Joint Intelligence Committee Report (dated February 24, 1976) titled “Pakistan’s Capability to Produce Nuclear Weapons.” This paper was an update to a JIC Paper from March 1975. It assessed that in absence of assistance for plutonium-239 or uranium-235, “Pakistan could not be in a position to explode a nuclear device at least for four years from now.” Further, the report noted that all was not well with Karachi Nuclear Power Plant. It had developed faults due to “leakage in boiler flow down valve which resulted in reactor poisoning.” It was shut down six times in 1975 with the largest one in mid-1975 when Canadian experts were recruited to repair the leakage of heavy water from the heat exchanger.

Moreover, in 1976, diplomatic cables from the Indian Embassy in Ottawa reveal that India was becoming aware of Chinese scientists’ presence in Pakistan. A Hungarian diplomat informed an Indian diplomat in Ottawa that the Canadian government was aware that Chinese scientists were being given access to facilities with Canadian material in Pakistan, despite the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP-I) coming under IAEA safeguards.

Pakistan was also sharing Canadian technical knowledge with the Chinese in return for military supplies [emphasis added]. Henry Kissinger, then-U.S. secretary of state, had visited Pakistan in 1976, where he was attempting to forge Afghan-Pakistan rapprochement following the visit of Prime Minister Bhutto to Kabul. Kissinger’s secondary agenda was to probe the France-Pakistan nuclear agreement. According to briefings received by Indian officials in Washington, Kissinger and Bhutto agreed that on the nuclear issue, “both sides will avoid confrontation.”

By September 1977, India’s external intelligence Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) had begun to report on Pakistan’s plans in detail, issuing a report called “Pakistan — Clandestine Purchase of Nuclear Equipment and Materials.” Pakistan’s Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) had set up a purchasing channel in Bonn, Germany, and Abdul Waheed, a cousin of General Zia-ul-Haq, oversaw the funds for these clandestine contracts. $11 million was already spent by Pakistan in Western Europe on plutonium technology, including the purchase of a “shearer” for use in its reprocessing facility...
http://thediplomat.com/2017/01/declassified-how-india-tracked-pakistans-development-of-a-nuclear-device/

In 1976 I was a very junior Canadian diplomat in Islamabad, not directly involved in covering Pak nuke intentions which were a serious concern.  One night I got a French embassy colleague, much into his cups, to say that the French government "at the highest level" had decided to give Pakistan the bomb.

The next day, thinking this was hot poop, I told my ambassador what had happened.  He did not consider it worth reporting to Ottawa.  A few years later, when back in Ottawa, some people at ExtAff did show some interest.

FWIW.

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Whole lot of planes:

India To Buy Six More C295s for Coast Guard

India is likely to sign a contract with Airbus Defence and Space for 56 C295 military transports within six months, according to the country's retiring chief of the air staff, Arup Raha. Meanwhile, the Indian Ministry of Defence has cleared the separate acquisition of six C295s for an Indian Coast Guard requirement. Both orders will be delivered by the Tata-Airbus partnership that is India’s first-ever private sector aircraft development enterprise.

At his end-of-tenure press conference on December 23, Raha told AIN that the evaluation of the C295 bid for the IAF is complete and contract negotiations would start soon. “Since benchmarking and other issues [of the aircraft] are known to us, the process will not take very long, especially with a proactive defense minister where things get sorted out faster than they did in the past,” he said. He added that, given the large number of aircraft to be ordered—16 to be delivered in flyaway condition and 40 to be manufactured in India—the Coast Guard contract would be “processed subsequently to completion of this series.” He continued, “The landmark decision for manufacture of this 8- to 10-ton-capacity aircraft will empower the private sector and help us with capabilities, with assistance from OEMs.”..

The Airus-Tata partnership will deliver the C295s for the Coast Guard in “raw” condition to the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), which will integrate an indigenous mission system. “DRDO could likely use a surface-scanning radar that could be coupled with transponders on boats, an imperative for the Coast Guard,” said Bharat Malkani, managing director of Max Aerospace & Aviation Ltd. The mission system could be a derivative of the multisensor airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) system developed by Center for Airborne System (CABS) with DRDO for the Embraer 145 platform, a defense official told AIN. “The C-295 is not a complicated aircraft. It is easy for DRDO to integrate the sensor in the nose with OEM input. It is not complicated structural work, and can be certified for airworthiness by the Indian body, CEMILAC,” said the official.

The Airbus Defence and Space C295 maritime patrol aircraft comprises a range of sensors and components including search radar, electro-optic/infrared sensors, electronic support measures, an electronic intelligence system (ELINT), COMINT, a magnetic anomaly detector (MAD), an IFF interrogator, a satcom, a datalink and a Link-11.
http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/defense/2017-01-04/india-buy-six-more-c295s-coast-guard

Civilian maritime patrol aircraft and Canada--and Bombardier?--see end here:
https://cgai3ds.wordpress.com/2015/11/09/mark-collins-some-possible-light-for-bombardier/

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Indians won't be happy--Paks test nuclear-capable Babur-3 SLCM (short-range); note Indian "Cold Start" quick, limited ground assault planning at end:

1) Reuters:

Pakistan fires 'first submarine-launched nuclear-capable missile'

Pakistan fired its first submarine-launched cruise missile on Monday, the military said, a show of force for a country that sees its missile development as a deterrent against arch-foe India.

The launch of the nuclear-capable Babur-3 missile, which has a range of 450 km (280 miles) and was fired from an undisclosed location in the Indian Ocean, is likely to heighten long-running tension between India and Pakistan...
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-missiles-idUSKBN14T1EL

2) Official news release

https://twitter.com/nktpnd/status/818483887282286592

3) Official video at twitter:
https://twitter.com/defencepk/status/818449200836972545

Earlier:

Indo-Pak Nuke Missile Race
https://cgai3ds.wordpress.com/2015/04/17/mark-collins-indo-pak-nuke-missile-race/

Indo-Pak Nuke Missile Race, Warheads Section
https://cgai3ds.wordpress.com/2015/08/27/mark-collins-indo-pak-nuke-missile-race-warheads-section/

Pakistan’s Tac Nukes and India’s “Cold Start” Attack
https://cgai3ds.wordpress.com/2015/10/20/mark-collins-pakistans-tac-nukes-and-indias-cold-start-attack/

Latest on "Cold Start" from the elephant's mouth:

A Slip of the Tongue on India's Once-Hyped 'Cold Start' Doctrine?
Is this India finally acknowledging Cold Start as sanctioned and ready for use, or something else altogether?

India’s new chief of army staff, General Bipin Rawat, spoke to India Today this week [note his snappy uniform  http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/lt-general-bipin-rawat-surgical-strikes-indian-army/1/849662.html ]. The interview offers interesting insight into the man in charge of leading India’s armed forces as tensions remain uneasy along the Line of Control in Kashmir. Notably, Rawat, in the interview, acknowledges the “Cold Start doctrine” — a formally unofficial and politically unsanctioned doctrine of limited war developed by the Indian army in the mid-2000s to allow for conventional action against Pakistan without risking nuclear retaliation.

Rawat specifically says that the “Cold Start doctrine exists for conventional military operations.” That statement in itself makes him the first actively serving Indian official — military or civilian — to acknowledge the existence of the doctrine, vindicating Pakistani concern about Indian plans to use rapid-mobilization limited war operations in a future conflict with Pakistan.

It’s unclear, though, that Rawat’s remark is meant as an acknowledgement that Cold Start stands today as both official and politically sanctioned...
http://thediplomat.com/2017/01/a-slip-of-the-tongue-on-indias-once-hyped-cold-start-doctrine/?utm_content=buffer68135&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Very scary part of the world.

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

India looking for yet another fighter type, for navy and to be built in India (good luck)

It’s Official: Indian Navy Wants 57 Carrier-borne Fighters

It’s been in the air for two years now. And now it’s formal. The Indian Navy wants new fighter jets for its aircraft carriers. Today, the navy’s planning wing has published a request for information to support the purchase of 57 Multi-Role Carrier Borne Fighters (MRCBF) for its aircraft carriers.

Only weeks ago, Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba had rung the death knell on India’s indigenous LCA Navy, putting all doubts to rest about whether the platform would ever see carrier service. With today’s RFI, the Indian Navy has taken a tangible step that solidifies what has only been largely in the realm of speculation thus far, in addition to dispelling the MiG-29K’s chance of being a mainstay multirole fighter element for the navy stepping into the future.

On paper, the navy says, “The MRCBF are intended as day and night capable, all weather multi-role deck based combat aircraft which can be used for Air Defence (AD), Air to Surface Operations, Buddy Refuelling, Reconnaissance, EW missions etc from IN aircraft carriers.” In one of its most comprehensive RFIs for a fighter to date, the navy spreads a battery of questions on configuration over 55 pages with sub-sections, making it generally clear that it is looking for a new generation fighter with a significant electronic warfare capability, endurance and payload (something it hits several walls on with the MiG-29K fleet). Fifty-seven is a solid number of planes, so it isn’t a surprise that the MoD is ‘desirous’ of license production of the aircraft under a technology transfer arrangement...

The field of play isn’t very big, but let’s be generous and look at technically what it’s like at this time:

    Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet: CATOBAR The Super Hornet has a major Make-in-India bid going that looks to feed a prospective Indian Air Force requirement. As part of Washington’s wider technological CATOBAR push in India, Boeing’s offering gains. On the other hand, Boeing is on record to say it has simulated STOBAR ski-jump operations and that the Super Hornet is capable of operating from a Vikramaditya-class carrier.
    Dassault Rafale-M: CATOBAR The Rafale has type advantage. To be in service with at least two Indian Air Force squadrons, and the possibility of more at a later stage, the Rafale gets to push the commonality key. Cost, though, would be a pushback.
    Lockheed-Martin F-35C CATOBAR Lockheed has pushed the F-35B and C to the Indian Navy since at least 2010. It’s a single engine jet (something the US Navy was goaded into agreeing to during the JSF programme), but everything else it offers could enthuse the Indian Navy. Cost and development uncertainties/delays, on the other hand, will be a major pushback.
    Lockheed-Martin F-35B STOVL The only new jet that does the Harrier trick, it would offer enormous flexibility to small deck operations of the kind the Indian Navy may be interested in in the future, but may not account for much in the more conventional launch focus the navy appears to be choosing from for the follow-on Vikrant class ships. Cost and development issues will also hang heavy, if the platform is ever seriously under consideration.
    Saab Gripen Maritime STOBAR/CATOBAR PROPOSED Saab says the Gripen Maritime (known by its far niftier previous name ‘Sea Gripen’) is ready on paper and has been simmed in both CATOBAR and STOBAR configurations. Design work was completed in 2012, with Saab only really waiting for a fund tap from an interested customer to take the development forward. A single engine configuration works against it — the Indian Navy will be hard pressed to explain junking plans with the LCA Navy (and perhaps the up-engined Mk.2) for another albeit more capable single engine fighter.
    Mikoyan MiG-29K STOBAR The MiG-29K, it clear by now, has little chance of adding numbers in Indian inventory. A worthy fighter on a trusted platform, but it has run into several problems — not least that it doesn’t quite deliver what the Indian Navy needs from deck-based squadron, notably endurance. Other problems with the jet are well-documented, but the very fact that the Indian Navy has invested time, energy and a ton of funds on looking for new fighters means the MiG-29K is pretty much toast.
    LCA Tejas Navy Mk.2 STOBAR The LCA Navy Mk.2 remains a quandary, a variable. While the Indian Navy has specifically dumped the LCA Navy Mk.1 (powered by a F404 turbofan), it has said nothing specific about the up-engined LCA Navy Mk.2, to be powered by an F414. While development work is continuing, the Mk.2 won’t survive without the Indian Navy’s specific backing, unless it gets a government bailout to continue...
http://www.livefistdefence.com/2017/01/its-official-indian-navy-wants-57-carrier-borne-fighters.html

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

A tweet on the matter above  :
https://twitter.com/IanJKeddie/status/824663335744532480

Ian Keddie
‏@IanJKeddie
...
India continues it's noble quest to acquire every aircraft type ever in existence

Mark Collins

 

[MarkOttawa]

No surprise here:

Make-In-India Policy Implementation Slowed By Discord

India's Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar is not happy. A key aspect of India’s flagship “Make in India” program to build the nation’s industrial capacity was due at the end of 2016 but is mired in bureaucracy

Make in India is moving forward, but the defense ministry is supporting a so-called strategic partnership model, first recommended in 2015, which aims to break the hold of state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) by building up private-sector capabilities. The model would appoint an Indian company as the point organization for large-scale defense programs in six sectors: aircraft and helicopters, warships and submarines, armored vehicles, missiles, electronics and command control systems, and critical materials.

For example, a corporation such as the Tata Group or Reliance would win the chance to build all of India’s fighter aircraft or helicopters for the next few decades. This includes the replacement for the medium multi-role fighter aircraft and any other license-build programs. Projects such as the Tejas light fighter and the future advanced medium combat aircraft would remain with India’s state-owned HAL...

Blocking full implementation of Make in India is anxiety over the strategic partnership model and its implications for competition, choice and the ability to get the best deal. Deep divisions about the policy exist—even​ within the defense ministry. Despite leadership support, the defense unit that oversees state-owned industrial capacity calls the policy “problem-prone.” The policy should identify at least two companies for each build program, to ensure competitiveness of capability and price, that faction believes. U.S. and UK manufacturing giants, which will be providing the technology to these programs, are uniformly anxious.

Boeing’s joint venture with Tata is expected to begin delivering Made-in-India AH-64 Apache fuselages next year, including for the 22 India has ordered. The U.S. company has also offered to produce its F/A-18 Super Hornet in India as a potential medium combat fighter and an advanced version for a future contest.

“Any model of strategic partnership must encourage foreign partners to maximize technology transfer, ensure fair competition, and minimize future challenges to selection,” says Pratyush Kumar, Boeing India president. “Therefore, [the defense ministry] must be willing to yield control on intellectual property to foreign suppliers while keeping it available for Indian use at all times [and] select a panel of 3-4 qualified strategic Indian partners for each opportunity versus arranging marriages between foreign and domestic companies.”..
http://aviationweek.com/aviation-week-space-technology/make-india-policy-implementation-slowed-discord

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Saab pushing back vs F-16V (Trump effect?):

Saab dangles sweetened Gripen deal
Swedish defence firm keen to set up modern facility in India to build the fighters.

Buoyed by policy developments in the US and sensing a golden opportunity to sell its Gripen E fighter jets to India, Sweden’s defence firm Saab has renewed its offer to set up a modern facility in India to build the fighters. It is also looking to export the jets from the Indian facility.

The offer is subject to the condition that India orders the Gripen E for the IAF, an order that is expected to be finalised by next month.

The Gripen E is locked in a close contest with the US-based Lockheed Martin’s F-16 to bag the combat aircraft contract for the IAF.

While Lockheed Martin had offered to move its sole production line of the F 16-Block 70 to India from Texas to meet Indian and global requirements, on Thursday, the company had said that the Trump administration will take a “fresh look” at some of these programmes [i.e. not building in US] and declared the company’s commitment to “align”  with US policy priorities.

It was also reported that with Lockheed Martin not getting any fresh F-16 orders from Pentagon, it plans to use its Fort Worth facility in Texas to make the fifth generation F-35 joint strike fighter.

On Friday [Jan. 1], Kent-Ake Molin, director, sales and marketing for Gripen, asked: “Should India be looking at aircraft that are at the end phase of its design life or should it go for an ultra modern fighter?”

At the same time, Mr Molin told this newspaper: “We are not too focused what others are doing. I am spending all my time in trying to bring all that is best for India regardless of what others are doing”...
http://www.asianage.com/india/all-india/110217/saab-dangles-sweetened-gripen-deal.html

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Indian military letting a whole lot hang out:

Indian Armed forces conduct month-long exercise to test combat readiness to deal with any possible threat

The Navy has carried out a mega exercise which saw participation of its strategic assets including nuclear-powered submarine and aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, besides Su-30 and Jaguar fighter jets of IAF.

The Theatre-level Readiness and Operational Exercise (TROPEX) was conducted to test combat readiness of the combined fleets of the Navy, the Air Force, the Army and the Coast Guard.

The aim of the month-long exercise, which was carried out across the vast expanse of the Arabian Sea and the North Central Indian Ocean, was to test the combat readiness of the forces to deal with any possible threat.

"TROPEX 2017 assumes great significance in the backdrop of current security scenario.

"The exercise provided an apt-opportunity to test the combat capability of the Indian Navy, Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Coast Guard, and strengthened inter-operability and joint operations in complex conflict situation," the Defence Ministry said.

Over 45 ships from both the Western and Eastern Naval Commands, five submarines including the nuclear powered Chakra, 50 Naval aircraft, 11 ships from the Coast Guard, troops from the Army and 20 aircraft from the Air Force including Su-30s and Jaguars participated in the exercise from January 24 to February 23.

"The exercise, in complete coordination with the Army and Air Force, was conducted in phases to test the various facets of war-fighting and joint combat capabilities of the armed forces to respond to given threat situations," the Ministry said.

It witnessed various weapon firings by ships, submarines and aircraft from both the Navy and the Air Force.

The Ministry said the interaction of the forces helped validate operational war fighting concepts and provided valuable lessons to sharpen combat skills...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/forces-conduct-month-long-exercise-to-test-combat-readiness-to-deal-with-any-possible-threat/articleshow/57359458.cms

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Now just have to get Indian gov. to agree to buy the plane and Trump to go along (competition from at least GripenE)--will Indian gov. decide faster than Canadian?:

Lockheed Martin agrees to build F-16 fighter jets in India

Lockheed Martin has agreed to jointly build F-16 fighter planes equipped with new-generation electronics in India with Tata Advanced Systems Ltd, both companies said on Monday.

The fighters are of the Block 70 type, “the newest and most technologically advanced F-16 ever”, they said.

“The F-16 Block 70 is ideally suited to meet the Indian Air Force's single-engine fighter needs and this unmatched US-Indian industry partnership directly supports India's initiative to develop private aerospace and defense manufacturing capacity in India,” said the statement, released on the Paris air show's opening day.

The Indian air force does not currently use F-16s, but industry experts say that local production would be a strong argument in favour of the US plane against its rivals, including French company Dassault's Rafale, in future procurement decisions.

India in 2016 agreed to buy 36 Rafale combat planes for around $8.9 billion.

Accompanying that deal was a partnership agreement between Dassault and India's Reliance Group and a promise by Dassault to invest about half of the value of the contract in India.

The French company recently said it was in talks for India to buy at least 50 more.

India, the world's top defence importer, is conducting a $100-billion upgrade of its Soviet-era military hardware, facing border disputes with its northern and western neighbours, China and Pakistan.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has moved to reduce India's reliance on expensive imports and called for the manufacturing of defence equipment locally.

Modi's government has raised the limit on foreign investment in the defence sector and encouraged tie-ups between foreign and local companies.

The announcement comes a week before Modi visits Washington for talks with US President Donald Trump, who has been putting pressure on American companies to keep production at home...
https://www.dawn.com/news/1340492/lockheed-martin-agrees-to-build-f-16-fighter-jets-in-india

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

Oh! They will decide faster than Canada. But, like everything else defense related in India where it comes to home-build, they will take three time as much time for half the quality. . . If anything actually ever gets delivered.  ;D

 

[MarkOttawa]

More on build-in-India Block 70 F-16V plan (Gripen E looks like other possibility):

Lockheed Looks To Strengthen Bid In India’s Fighter Competition
As New Delhi’s fighter competition looms, Lockheed looks to strengthen its bid

In a bid to fortify its position in the competition to replace New Delhi’s aging MiG fighter fleet, Lockheed Martin is partnering with India’s largest conglomerate to produce F-16s in that country.

Winning India’s fighter competition is currently Lockheed’s best hope of keeping production of the legacy fighter alive well into the 2020s. A deal with New Delhi for potentially several hundred F-16s would mean more than a decade of stable F-16 production and create hundreds of jobs both in the U.S. and India, say Lockheed officials.

Lockheed Pitches F-16 to India

New Delhi weighing Lockheed F-16 versus Saab Gripen

Lockheed hopes partnership with India’s largest conglomerate, Tata Group, will strengthen its bid

If India opts for F-16, Lockheed might shift final assembly of all new Fighting Falcons to India

Lockheed argues the deal will create jobs both in the U.S. and India

Lockheed hopes the deal with Tata Advanced Systems Ltd., the defense arm of India’s Tata Group, will help tip the scales in the F-16’s favor. If India chooses Lockheed’s Fighting Falcon over Saab’s Gripen for the new fleet, Tata will be Lockheed’s primary partner for final assembly of the aircraft in India, says John Rood, senior vice president of Lockheed Martin International.

The agreement is a clear nod to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” campaign to boost local manufacturing. If New Delhi elects to buy at least 100 F-16s, Lockheed is looking to permanently shift final assembly of all new Fighting Falcons to India.

In that case, Lockheed and Tata will set up and operate an in-country facility where the new fighters will be assembled, Rood says. Lockheed will still build most components in the U.S., but the two companies are in talks to potentially build certain parts in India.

Lockheed hopes to attract additional international customers for new-build F-16s, but India’s is the largest single order on the horizon. The company is finishing the last of the Iraqi F-16s at its Fort Worth facility and is hoping to finalize a contract with Bahrain for up to 20 Fighting Falcons this year. An F-16 deal with New Delhi would create jobs in the U.S. as well as India and bolster the latter’s manufacturing base, Rood says...

If the deal materializes, Lockheed and Tata would jointly build a new Indian fleet of F-16Vs, also known as “Block 70s.” The V configuration sees the addition of Northrop Grumman’s APG-83 scalable, agile-beam active, electronically scanned array radar; a center pedestal display; a new advanced mission computer; a joint helmet-mounted cueing system; and the auto-ground collision-avoidance system. Lockheed is already under contract with Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan to upgrade a total of more than 300 F-16s to the V configuration.

Pending new F-16 orders, Lockheed is facing a short-term gap in production this year...

[Conformal fuel tanks part of India plan?]

http://aviationweek.com/combat-aircraft/lockheed-looks-strengthen-bid-india-s-fighter-competition

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Naval triple entente vs PLA Navy in making?

India-Japan-US Malabar 2017 Naval Exercises Kick Off With Anti-Submarine Warfare in Focus
This exercise is the first to involve a carrier from each of the navies.

Beginning on July 6, India, Japan, and the United States began the 2017 iteration of the Malabar naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal. This year’s exercise will last for eight days and have a heavy anti-submarine warfare (ASW) focus. The exercise is the second since the three countries decided that Japan would become a permanent member of what used to be a U.S.-India bilateral exercise, with other participants occasionally invited to participate or observe.

This year’s Malabar exercise is notable on several fronts. First, it’s the first naval exercise between the three countries to involve carriers from each navy. The Indian Navy has dispatched INS Vikramaditya, its modified Russian-made Kiev-class carrier that was commissioned in 2013. The United States has sent the USS Nimitz supercarrier to the exercises. Meanwhile, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force sent JS Izumo, which left Japan earlier this spring for a multiple-month-long deployment to Southeast Asia before arriving in the Indian Ocean for Malabar 2017.

The Izumo is one of two Japanese warships that are among the largest the country has operated since the end of the Second World War. Japan describes the Izumo-class vessels as “helicopter destroyers” and not aircraft carriers ["through-deck cruiser anyone? http://www.military-today.com/navy/invincible_class.htm ]; the warships are not equipped to launch fighter aircraft, but could likely be retrofitted for short-take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) variants of the F-35B [emphasis added]. The Izumo is joined at Malabar 2017 by JS Sazanami; both vessels recently joined U.S. Nimitz-class supercarrier USS Ronald Reagan for bilateral exercises in the South China Sea.

Excluding the three carriers from each nation, at least fourteen other warships and submarines from the three nations are participating in this year’s exercise. Additionally, the Indian Navy has sent P-8I maritime surveillance aircraft to this exercise, underlining the anti-submarine warfare focus this year. The United States has also sent a P-8A Poseidon aircraft to the exercise...
http://thediplomat.com/2017/07/india-japan-us-malabar-2017-naval-exercises-kick-off-with-anti-submarine-warfare-in-focus/

Mark
Ottawa

 

[a_majoor]

Given the distances the Indian Air Force would need to cover, conformal fuel tanks on an F-16 (or a putative Advanced Super Hornet) would make a great deal of sense.

 

[MarkOttawa]

No F-16 Block 70 for Indian Air Force?

Analysts: India won't ink a single-engine fighter deal before 2019

India's single-engine fighter program, worth $12 billion, is unlikely to be "decided before 2019," analysts and officials say, even as the Indian Air Force has decided to hold flight tests of Lockheed's F-16 Block 70 and Sweden's Gripen-E, the two aircraft competing in the program.

Restricted expressions of interests were sent through Indian embassies to "some overseas participants" to take part in the program in October last year to elicit responses to produce single-engine fighter aircraft in India. Lockheed Martin offered to shift the assembly line of its F-16 Block 70, and Sweden offered to build the Gripen-E aircraft in India with technology transfer.

The F-16 fighter aircraft did not come up for discussion during last month's summit talks on June 26 between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, said a Ministry of Defence official without commenting on the outcome of the talks.

However, analysts and officials are skeptical whether the program would come to an early decision. Some analysts even say the F-16 will never be bought by the Indian Air Force, or IAF...
http://www.defensenews.com/articles/analysts-india-wont-ink-a-single-engine-fighter-deal-before-2019

Still sounds fast by current Canadian standards  .

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Slowly, slowly Indian cooperation with Russia on stealth fighter goes ahead--how many fighter types for IAF?

India, Russia contract soon on 5th generation fighter aircraft

India and Russia will soon sign a contract for jointly developing the much-delayed fifth-generation fighter aircraft, a top Russian official has said.

Sergei Chemezov, the CEO of Rostec State Corporation, said that all decisions over the multi-billion dollar project to jointly develop the fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) will be finalised in the "nearest future".

India and Russia inked an inter-governmental pact for the FGFA project in 2007...
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/first-stage-of-negotiations-on-india-russia-fgfa-over/articleshow/59662807.cms

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Indian Navy sub-hungry:

India kick-starts ‘mother of all underwater defence deals’

Highlights

    6 countries are in the fray to build six advanced stealth submarines for an estimated Rs 70,000 crore in collaboration with an Indian shipyard.
    This conventional submarine programme called Project-75 (India) is likely to be the first mega project under the new ‘strategic partnership’ policy.

India has finally kick-started its 'mother of all underwater defence deals' after an excruciating 10-year delay, with France, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Spain and Japan being in the fray to build six advanced stealth submarines for an estimated Rs 70,000 crore ($10.9 billion) in collaboration with an Indian shipyard.

This conventional submarine programme called Project-75 (India), languishing in politico-bureaucratic apathy, files and committees since it got the government's 'acceptance of necessity' in November 2007, is likely to be the first mega project under the new 'strategic partnership' policy finalised by the defence ministry in May. But it's early days yet.

The six shipbuilders — Naval Group-DCNS (France), ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (Germany), Rosoboronexport Rubin Design Bureau (Russia), Navantia (Spain), Saab (Sweden) and the Mitsubishi-Kawasaki Heavy Industries combine (Japan) — have to first respond to the RFI (request for information) issued to them last week by September 15, officials said.

The Navy will then formulate the NSQRs (naval staff qualitative requirements) before the formal RFP (request for proposal) is issued to the six for submitting their technical and commercial bids for evaluation. The Indian shipyard for the strategic partnership with the selected foreign collaborator will be chosen in a parallel process.

"It may take around two years for the original equipment manufacturer (OEM)-Indian shipyard combine to be down-selected. Moreover, the first new submarine will be rolled out only seven to eight years after the final contract is inked. But the aim is to fasttrack the entire process," said adefence ministry official.

The Navy wants the six new diesel-electric submarines to have land-attack cruise missiles, air-independent propulsion for greater underwater endurance, and the capability to integrate indigenous weapons and sensors as and when they are developed [emphasis added].

"The stress will be on transfer of technology from the OEM and indigenisation. The submarines, to be built with indigenous steel, should also be less maintenance-intensive to ensure a better operational cycle with minimal downtime," said the official.

According to approved plans, the Navy should have 18 diesel-electric submarines as well as six nuclear-powered attack submarines (called SSNs) and four nuclear-powered submarines with long-range nuclear-tipped missiles (SSBNs) for effective deterrence against China and Pakistan, as earlier reported by TOI.

But the force is grappling with just 13 old conventional submarines, only half of them operational at any given time because at least 10 are over 25 years old, apart from two nuclear-powered submarines, INS Arihant (SSBN) and INS Chakra (SSN).

The six French Scorpene diesel-electric submarines being built at Mazagon Docks under the Rs 23,652 crore Project-75, after an over four-year delay, will be delivered by 2021. But by then, many of the 13 existing submarines will be up for retirement despite mid-life upgrades and refits...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/india-kick-starts-mother-of-all-underwater-defence-deals/articleshow/59730200.cms

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

More on Indian Navy sub programs (some with nukes), in face of PLA Navy:

Race to Renew India Submarine Force Amid Rising China Threat

    Depleted fleet leaves India vulnerable to underwater attack
    China rapidly expanded fleet to grow regional capabilities

After years of delay, India’s navy is preparing to take delivery of one of the world’s stealthiest and most deadly fighting tools: the INS Kalvari, an attack submarine named after a deep-sea tiger shark.

The commissioning later this month of the Scorpene class submarine is a milestone in India’s effort to rebuild its badly depleted underwater fighting force, and the first of six on order. It comes as China’s military expands its fleet to nearly 60 submarines -- compared to India’s 15 -- and increases its forays into the Indian Ocean in what New Delhi strategists see as a national security challenge.

A Chinese Yuan-class diesel-powered submarine entered the Indian ocean in May and is still lurking, according to an Indian naval officer who asked not to be identified, citing policy. It’s an unwelcome reminder of China’s rapidly expanding naval strength at a time when Indian and Chinese soldiers are engaged in a border dispute stand-off in Bhutan. China’s defense ministry didn’t respond to a faxed request for comment.

What’s the China-India Border Stand-Off All About? QuickTake Q&A

The official opening in July of China’s first naval base at Djibouti at the western end of the Indian Ocean, recent submarine sales to Pakistan and Bangladesh and a visit last year of a Chinese nuclear-powered submarine to Karachi, have also exposed how unprepared India’s navy is to meet underwater challenges.

"The lack of long-term planning and procurement commitment in defense acquisition plans can be considered tantamount to negligence” by the Indian government, said Pushan Das, a research fellow at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation’s National Security Program. India needs to “counter increasing PLA-N activities in the region," he said, referring to the People’s Liberation Army Navy.

Ministry of Defence spokesman Nitin Wakankar would not comment on the Indian Navy’s submarine fleet plan.
Dwindling Fleet

Since 1996, India’s attack submarine fleet has dwindled to 13 diesel-electric vessels from 21 as the navy failed to replace retired boats. The entire fleet -- a mixture of Russian-origin Kilo class vessels and German HDW submarines -- is at least 20 years old. All have been refitted to extend their operational lives until at least 2025.

In contrast, China’s underwater fleet boasts five nuclear-powered attack submarines and 54 diesel-powered attack submarines. By 2020, the force will likely grow to between 69 and 78 submarines, according to the Pentagon’s latest report on China’s military. 

Still, analysts say it will be years before China can pose a credible threat to India in the Indian Ocean.

“Simple geography gives India a huge strategic advantage in the Indian Ocean,” said David Brewster, a senior research fellow with the National Security College at the Australian National University in Canberra. “And although China has been sending in submarines, you have to understand they are probably decades away from being able to seriously challenge India there, especially while the United States is present.”

China’s navy needs to enter the Indian Ocean through narrow choke points like the Malacca Strait that runs between Indonesia and Malaysia. Indian surveillance planes deployed to Andaman & Nicobar Islands patrol the area, and one spotted the Chinese submarine in May.

In the meantime, India is slowly upgrading its underwater fleet.

The INS Kalvari is the first of six French-made Scorpene submarines on order in a 236 billion rupee ($3.7 billion) project awarded in 2005 to the state-owned defense shipyard Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. and France’s Naval Group, formerly known as DCNS Group. Junior defense minister Subhash Bhamre said in July that the first of these would be delivered in August.

In February 2015 India approved the construction of six nuclear-powered attack submarines. Few details have been released about the 600 billion rupee program.

And on July 21, India initiated another program to build six more diesel submarines. It sent information requests to six manufacturers -- Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems GmbH, Naval Group of France, Madrid-based Navantia SA, Sweden’s Saab AB, a Russia-Italian joint venture called Russian Rubin Design Bureau and a consortium between Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. The project is worth about 500 billion rupees.

As well as its attack submarines, India is developing an underwater nuclear deterrence. The first nuclear-powered submarine that can launch ballistic missiles was commissioned in 2016, part of a program to build at least three. The navy is using a Russian nuclear-powered submarine it leased for 10 years in 2012 to train the crew. China has four nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarines.

Even with the announced programs, India isn’t likely to meet its 2030 deadline for shoring up its submarine fleet. To deter both China and Pakistan, planners reckon the fleet needs at least 18 diesel, six nuclear and four nuclear-armed submarines...

The undocking of Indian Navy's first Scorpene Submarine INS Kalvari in April 2015. Photographer: Divyakant Solanki/EPA
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-03/race-to-revamp-india-submarine-force-amid-rising-china-threat

Mark
Ottawa